Stop My Breathing
by xAllxShexWrotex
Summary: There was always something off about Cooper Denton. Lily, Oliver, Jake, and Miley are about to find out just how deep it goes. LOLIVER and JILEY.
1. Prologue

There had always been something off about Cooper Denton

There had always been something off about Cooper Denton. Maybe it was in the way that he looked at me. Maybe it was the way that, when you looked into his dark eyes, you could see the strands of his sanity hanging on by just one sinewy thread.

It could have been the way he could recite random facts about me that even my best friends didn't know, they were that unimportant. Or the way he knew the room number of all of my classrooms when even I didn't.

Whatever it was, I never expected him to do what he did.

There was _always_ something off about Cooper Denton.


	2. Out From The Trees

It was the summer before our senior year when it happened

It was the summer before our senior year when it happened. We were up at Jake's family cabin, ending our last summer as high school students with a bang. Deep down, I know that it was my own mistake that changed everything.

I was outside, sitting on the back porch with Oliver, watching the sunset over the giant lake. I turned to him, my blonde hair flying in front of my face. I pushed it out of the way of my blue eyes and smiled at him nervously.

"Oliver," I said softly. He looked over, cocking his head to the side.

"What's up, Lils?"

"Um...this isn't a very easy thing to say. Truth is...for the past three years I...well. Oliver, I love you."

He blinked his big brown eyes at me before shoving his hands through his dark brown hair and shaking his head, looking at me with a mixture of pity and empathy. I bit my lip.

"Lily, I don't..." he started, but I cut him off, raising my hand up as I leapt up and raced off of the porch, running past the side of the house and into the woods on the other side.

I could hear him calling after me, but I didn't stop. The ache in my legs from the running was nothing compared to the ache in my heart.

LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLLLOOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL

The woods were unnerving when night fell. I was lost. Everything looked the same, and mist was beginning to cover most of the ground. It was freezing, and I was cold. I shivered, looking around with fear.

My cell phone didn't get reception out here. I chucked it at the ground in frustration, letting out a cry of despair. Tears ran down my cheeks as I sniffled. I was lost, alone, afraid, and heartbroken.

There was a sound of a snapping twig and footsteps. I jumped.

"Hello?" I asked quietly. No one answered, but the footsteps grew closer. "Hello?" I asked louder. Still no asnwer, and still closer footsteps. "Who's there?" I screamed.

From behind the trees, slowly walking toward me with a twisted, cold smile on his face, was the boy that had sent shivers down my spine for the past three years: Cooper Denton.


	3. Game On

Hold me when I'm here,

_Hold me when I'm here,_

_Right me when I'm wrong,_

_Hold me when I'm scared,_

_And love me when I'm gone,_

_Cause everything I am,_

_And everything in me,_

_Wants to be the one you wanted me to be,_

_I'd never let you down,_

_Even if I could,_

_I'd give up everything,_

_If only for your good,_

_So hold me when I'm here,_

_Right me when I'm wrong,_

_You can hold me when I'm scared,_

_You won't always be there,_

_So love me when I'm gone. _

_When I'm Gone by 3 Doors Down_

"She's still not answering," I groaned, throwing my cell phone down onto the couch. It was almost midnight, and Lily had yet to return.

Miley looked at me with disdain. "This is all your fault. You should have said _something. _Anything!"

"I tried," I yelled, standing up angrily. "She wouldn't let me, Miley!"

"Calm down," Jake said, stepping between me and his girlfriend. "You both need to calm down."

We had all remained downstairs. Lily had dissappeared seven whole hours ago, six of which had been pitch black outside.

"Have you checked the bedroom yet?" Jake asked Miley. "She could have climbed in through the window. There's that wall plant going up the side that's really easy to climb."

"I'll go check," Miley said, dashing up the stairs. Jake and I looked at each other, too afraid to get our hopes up too much.

There was a blood curdling scream as we heard a loud thud. Jake's eyes filled with worry as he turned and sprinted up the stairs. I wasn't too far behind as we entered the room that Miley was sharing with Lily.

Miley was on the floor, her hands covering her mouth as she sobbed and screamed. On the big, mirrored closet doors, written in Lily's favorite red lipstick that she used for parties, were the words:

_Tell she's gone and I stop her breathing. –C.D._

Jake sunk to his knees beside Miley, pulling her into his chest, staring at the mirror, transfixed. The room was a mess, things thrown everywhere. There was a note written in messy writing on the bed. I was hoping it would elaborate the situation.

_I have Lily. If you notify anybody, she dies. You want her back? You come find her. I finally have her, and I'm not giving her up without a fight. _

_P.S. I've always hated you three..._

I recognized the writing immediately. It was the writing of Cooper Denton, the boy who had followed Lily for the past three years. The boy that everyone in school was mean to, the one that everyone was scared of. Everyone but Lily. I thought back to freshman year.

_Cooper approached Amber and Ashley's table, looking nervous. "Can I sit here?" he asked. The entire cafeteria went silent as they looked over. _

"_Ew," Ashley stated. _

"_As if you deserve to sit with girls as hot as us," Amber sneered. "Even your fantasies of me would never talk to a guy like you." _

_Cooper's face darkened as people began to laugh. I was standing with Lily beside our empty table and she slammed her tray down. Everyone once again quieted. _

"_Lily.." I said. _

"_It's the first day of high school," she said. "What better way to start it then to actually do something about this." _

_I stared at her as she marched over, as did everyone else. Cooper looked up, looking as though he expected her to hit him or tease him as Amber and Ashley did. _

"_Would you just shut up?" Lily snapped. "Really. You're nothing but stupid, insecure bitches. And you know what? I'm sick of your stupid shit. I'm sick of you acting like you are so much better then everybody else, because newsflash, dumbasses, you're not. If I were you, I would shut the fuck up and let him sit with you, cause he's a damn sight nicer then you are." _

That was the moment that Cooper Denton's obsession with my best friend began. She was the first person to ever stick up for him; the first one to ever actually give a damn. He had never had the courage to talk to her. He seemed content to sit in a corner by himself after that, never trying to sit with anyone else. I would sometimes see him with a camera or his phone pointed at Lily, and I would scoot closer to her.

"He's harmless," she would always say before teasing me for being overprotective. As the years worn on, he grew more and more obsessive. He could recite her shoe size, her pant size, and shirt size on command. He could tell you the exact time of her birth. He could tell you what her room looked like, even though he had never been to her house before. He knew the first, middle, and last names of all of her friends and family. And naive, innocent Lily would just say that it was a crush.

And now? Now, he had taken her. Where, we did not know. How he got in, we did not know. Had he brought Lily with him? How had we not heard him come in through the window?

I could feel my throat burn as I looked at the nightstand next to Lily's bed. There was only one picture, compared to the ten on Miley's. It was a framed picture of me and her from the beginning of the summer. We were on the beach in our bathing suits. I was holding her against me with my arms around her. Her head was just below my chin, given our significant height difference, and her hands were on top of mine. My chin was resting on her blonde head and we were both laughing.

Lily had run off because of me. This was entirely my fault. There was no doubt in my mind. I looked back at the note in my hand that I had crumpled in anger.

_You want her back? You come find her. _

"Game on, Cooper," I growled, throwing the note down and storming out of the room.


	4. You Do Love Her

"It's nice to have you here, Delilah," Cooper said, his voice oily in quality

"It's nice to have you here, Delilah," Cooper said, his voice oily in quality.

"How did you know that?" I hissed, feeling the ropes around me dig into my skin.

"Know what?" he asked.

"That my full name is Delilah. The only person who knows that is Oliver," I replied, narrowing my eyes. I wasn't going to show him how afraid I was.

"Don't you see, Lily? I know everything about you. I know that your license plate number is 2531962 for a reason. It's your birthday; February 5th, and then Oliver birthday; March 19th; and then Miley's, June 2nd. I know that you're terrified of lightning, and that your trademark line is "people always leave". I know that you don't really like Hannah Montana's music anymore, but you pretend to because Miley does."

"Ha! You don't know _everything. _Tell me, who's Lola Luftnagle?"

"Hannah Montana's best friend," he responded immediately. "She looks like you. So much like you."

"You don't know everything," I repeated, fixing him with a cool stare.

"I also know that you're in love with that idiot Oliver. I know that you love him more then anyone else on this earth," he said. "And I know that you would do anything for him, correct?"

"What are you getting at, Cooper?" I asked cautiously.

"Nothing. Just that you love Oliver like I wish you would love me," he lamented. I looked at him with no pity. I had pitied him for three years; now, he just freaked me out. This was beyond a crush. This was insanity. I was dealing with a nutcase and I didn't know what to do. The one thing I refused to do was show him that I was afraid. Suddenly, he turned to me. "Kiss me."

"What?" I spluttered.

"Kiss me. I'll prove to you that you can love me like you love Oliver," he said. He was kneeling in front of me now, his blonde hair flopping into one dark eye. I took in a deep breath and stared him down.

"No."

"Well, it doesn't matter if you want to," he said, suddenly enraged. He grabbed me by both sides of my face and smashed his lips to mine. It was rough, and painful, and made me feel disgusted. He shoved his tongue into my mouth, and I bit him, hard. He didn't even seem to feel it.

When he pulled away, blood was coming out of his mouth, and I grinned in satisfaction. He wiped it away and looked at it on his hand. In one sudden movement, he slapped me across the face.

"You won't fight anything from now on, Lily," he said. "I don't want to hurt you."

"Then take me back to my friends," I said. "And then you won't have to."

"I'm afraid I can't do that, Lily. You'll simply have to stop fighting me."

"I'm afraid I can't do that, Cooper," I mocked with an icy smile. He smirked.

"I like my women feisty," he said. I winced in disgust as he swept from the room, leaving me tied to the chair. I looked around for the first time; I was in a small room of a strange cabin in the middle of nowhere. How the hell was I gonna get out of this one?

L&OL&OL&OL&OL&OL&OL&OL&OL&OL&OL&OL&OL&OL&OL&OL&OL&O

L&OL&OL&OL&OL&OL&OL&OL&OL&OL&OL&OL&OL&OL&OL&OL&OL&O

Jake, Miley, and I were all crowded around a computer, staring at the glowing screen as I went into the database of police records.

"How the hell did you get into this site?" Jake asked. "That's almost impossible to hack it."

"This is my mom's laptop. The ISP has direct access,"I said. "And I know her badge ID and password. It was easy."

"I forgot your mom's a cop. This makes everything so much easier," Miley said. "We just tell her what's going on, and..."

"No, Miley," I said roughly. "Cooper means it. He will kill Lily if we get authorities involved."

Miley gulped and nodded as I brought up Cooper Denton's records.

**Denton, Cooper**

**Malibu, California **

**Birthdate: 16 September 1992**

**License Plate: LTCD29 **

"Oh my God," Miley said. "Look at the license plate. LT is Lily Truscott, CD is Cooper Denton, 2 is February, Lily's birth month, and 9 is his..."

"Good spotting, Miles," I said. I scrolled down into his other records.

**5 February 2008: Cooper Denton taken into custody. Sexual Harassment. Victim: Blonde haired, blue eyed girl. Age 15. Name: Lori Tanner**

**18 January 2009- Domestic violence call. Michael Denton, father, taken into custody. Charges: assault and battery of wife, Michelle Denton, and son, Cooper Denton. **

**5 February 2009: Cooper Denton taken into custody. Chargers: Attempted rape. Victim: Blonde haired, blue eyed girl. Age 16. Name: Leianna Turk**

"He attempted to rape a girl who obviously looks a lot like Lily on Lily's birthday," I said, squinting at the screen. "That is seriously twisted."

"_He _is seriously twisted," Jake stated angrily.

**5 February 2010: Cooper Denton taken into custody. Attack upon a blonde haired, blue eyed victim. Age 17. Name: Lauren Trent **

"He did it _again _in sophomore year!" Miley exclaimed.

"And their initials are all L.T.," I said slowly.

"L.T. as in Lily Truscott," Jake finished for me. I nodded, a sick feeling in my stomach.

**3 March 2010: Strange findings on Domestic Violence call. Room of Cooper Denton covered in pictures of blonde haired, blue eyed girl. All seem to be done by Denton. All seem to be candid. Identified by Officer Oken as Delilah R. Truscott.**

"My mom knew," I ground out. "She knew how much of a freak this guy was and didn't even warn me!"

"There's probably a confidentiality thing," Jake attempted to soothe.

"Fuck that," I seethed. "If it possibly endangers my best friend, fuck the law."

"Your mom is a cop," Miley said dryly. "I doubt she shares the same sentiments."

**7 July 2010: Commited to Seaside Mental Hospital. Mother concerned with obsessive tendencies, sudden mood swings, and spilt personalities. Released on 9 August 2010. **

"So he's mentally ill," I pondered.

"I thought that bit was obvious," Miley stated. There were several more Domestic Violence calls, several of which showed possibilities of him hitting his mother. There was two more records of Cooper being put into mental hospitals.

"This did nothing to make me worry less," Miley snapped as I logged off of the computer.

"Now we know what he's capable of," Jake said, trying to quell Miley's fear. He went to hug her but she shoved him off of her.

"Yeah, that he's most likely going to rape her!" Miley screamed. "And that he's got some serious mental illnesses. He could honest to God _kill her!" _

For some reason, I hadn't put thought into those possibilities. I hadn't truly realized that he most likely had the intention to rape Lily. Maybe abuse her, or whack her around. Maybe even kill her when he was done...

"No," I whispered. "He just can't. Not Lily."

"But he will, Oliver!" Miley yelled, tears falling down her face. "He will if we don't do something!"

"Then let's effing do something!" I shouted back. "Let's get out there and try to find her!"

Jake stood between us as usual, looking strained and exhausted. "It's eleven o'clock at night. We have to wait until the morning."

"And what? Give him hours to attack her?" Miley turned on him.

"He's right, Miley. We can't walk through a forest at night. It won't help anything."

"I'm just so scared," she whimpered after a moment. Tears began to fall down her face. Jake pulled her to him as she sobbed into his chest. He stroked her hair gently, kissing the top of her head.

"It'll be okay," he said whispered to her. "Just hang in there, love. It's gonna be fine."

I bit my lip as I watched them. I thought back on the situation with Lily, about what she had said to me before she ran. Was it possible that maybe I could love her, too? Could best friends really work like that?

The feeling of regret in me told me that yes, I could love her. And the biggest part of me was screaming, "You idiot! It's not that you _ could _love her! It's that you _do_ love her!"


End file.
